Printing-plate-finishing machine.



No. 737,251. PATEN'I'ED AUG. 25, 1-903.-

P. c. LEETHBML PRINTING PLATE FINISHING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 30. 1901. I no Mop'nL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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PATENTED AUG. 25., 903,

No. 737,251. I". 0, LEETHEM.

PRINTING PLAT-E FINISHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 30. 1901.

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H0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES.

Patented August 25, 1903.

PATENT QFFICE.

lPRINTING-PLATE-FINISHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,251, dated August 25, 1903. Application filed. August 30, 1901. Slerial No. 73,832. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, FRANK G. LEETHEM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of eompanying drawings.

My invention relates to printing;'andits ob- -3ect is to provide means whereby printingplates, such as electrotypes, may be finished or beveled, registered, and trimmed to sizes,

such that their dimensions will be multiples of the unit of the type-measuring system. Plates when so trimmed or finished will justify in the forms, so that they can be readily held in place by simple means, and, furthermore, they will justify with type set up beside them and'insure perfect register.

The invention consists in a construction and arrangement of parts tobe more fully described hereinafter, and particularly set forth in the claims.

In the drawings, which fully illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a plan. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the upper portion of my machine.

Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation of certain.

measuring apparatus embodied in my machine,some parts being shown in section. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is asectional elevation of the table and upper portion of my machine.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged side elevation of part ofthe measuring apparatus, and Fig. 7 is a front elevation of a tool-head.

Referring to the parts by letter, A represents the frame of the machine. It may be provided with suitable bearings ct, in which bearings is rotatablymounted a shaft a, adapted to be driven by a belt-pulley a and this shaft carries a tool-head a The upper por tion of the frame A is-p rovided with horizontal tracks a, which traverse the machine parallel with the face of the tool-header Upon these tracks is mounted a table B, which may consist, as shown, of a flat plate provided with alongitudin aldovetail groove 1), the purpose of which will appear later.

At a is pivoted the bracket or arm 0, which is supported horizontally, as shown. At its inner extremity it may have an extension 0, and this extension 0 has mounted within it an eccentric-sleeve c. The opposite extremity of this arm C carries a similarly-mounted eecentric-sleeve c and the outer face of this sleeve 0 as shown in Fig. 2, is provided with a radial mark orpoint 0 which cooperates with a small scale 0 on the extremity of the arm 0. This scale aifords means for determining and adjusting the angular position of the eccentric-sleeve 0 as will be readily understood,by means of a handle 0 Between these two sleeves c and c is mounted the alining-bar D, rigid with each,and it will readily appear that the construction described enables the posiate,and it may be provided also with an extension e, consisting of asubstlanti'ally horizontal plate,which maycarryat its tip a gage-plate 6. This gage-plate is adapted to lie in proximity to the inner edge of the table B. The head a is adapted to carry rotary cutters T T, and

the parts are so arranged that when the reading of the scale 0 is 0 the gage-plate 6 will lie exactly in the plane of the inner face t of the beveling-tool T. Furthermore, the divisions, which are shown numbered from 0 to 12 in Fig. 3, are so adapted that the movement of the handle 0 from 0 to the position in which the scale-reading will be 12- would move the gage-plate e horizontally along the table-top an amount which is equal to the unit or a multipleof the unit of a type-measuring systemsay one pica-and movements of the handle from 0 to 12 would give a proportional movement of the gage-plate corresponding to the reading at the scale. Thus if the scale-reading was 9 the movement of the tip of the gage-plate e from 0 position would have been threefourths of a pica, or, as it would be expressed in printers parlance, nine points, a point being one-twelfth of a pica, as is well known. The presence of the eccentric-sleeve c and its scale enables bar D to be adjusted into new positions parallel with itself,thus permitting the range of the alinina' edge e to be extended if both eccentrics are operated, and it enables the location of its range to be changed byholding one of the eccentrics fixed at a new point. These two eccentric-scales constitute what I am pleased to call a primary set of units.

It is necessary that the measuring edge or gage-plate 6 should be parallel to the plane in which the cuttingtool T rotates, and for this purpose the inner extremity c of the arm C may be provided with a vertically-projecting flange 0 which is provided with two openings o and c in one of which is mounted a set-screw having a head adapted to be used as a thumb-nut for turning the same, and the inner edge of this set-screw bears against the face of the verti(sally-projecting flange a", which flange may be integral with the frame A. In the other opening a may be mounted a similar setscrew 0 but its head is adapted to abut the rear face of the flange 0 thus affording means for drawing the flange toward the frame and center of the m achine, as will be understood, whereby the bar D may be brought into parallelism with the plane of the cutting-tools. The eccentricstrap E and the parts connected therewith afford means for alining the printing-plate F, resting upon the table B, so that it may be properly trimmed by the cutting-tool. Thus, as shown in Fig. 3, where the reading of both scales is O the tip of the gage-plate 6 lies in the plane of the inner face of the tool, as was described. The plate F has the usual blank flange from which the bevel edge is intended to be formed, and this plate is placed in the relation shown in Fig. 3that is, with gage-plate e resting upon the top of the blank flange f and in contact with the vertical face After this has been done and after clamping the plate to the table Bit may be slid beneath the head (0*, where a beveled edge f will be made which corresponds to the U reading-that is, there is a 0 margin or no fiat portion between the bevel and the vertical. face f. Should a margin of one-half pica, or six points, be desired, the handle 0 would be moved so that the scale reading would be 6. In this case the tip or gage-plate 6' would have moved to the right six points and the plate F would have been alined so' as to form a six-point margin on the edge instead of the 0 margin, as illustrated in Fig.

The tools T T,already referred to, are shown in connection with the head a in Fig. 7. The tool T does not cut the bevel, but cooperates with the beveling-tool T in such a manner as to take some of the work off of it and cut away the flange just beyond the bevel. These tools may be held in place in any suitable manner,

as shown, by securing them in slots t, and I provide for adjusting the beveling-tool T to the work by mounting a screw in the'head a, as shown, the head I of which fits into a notch t in the extremity of the cutting-tool.

I provide a second measuring apparatus, called the secondary units, intended to cooperate with. the iirst to insure perfect accuracy in point measurement over all, and this second measuring apparatus I employ after the first edge has been trimmed and measured with the first measuring apparatus. The secondary units consist of a series of blocks or blanks b, which are arranged longitudinally of the table B, and each is of a width which is the unit or a multiple of the unit of a type-measuring systemsay one pica. Alternate members of this series projeet in the manner shown in Fig. 1, so that they, in eifeet, form ameasuring-rack Dwith a series of notches. They may liein a rabbeted edge of the table and may be secured in place between lugs b by means of a setscrew b They are adapted to measure picas from O to 80. The extremity of an alining-head G, which is slidably mounted on the table by means of a small. shoe g, running in the dovetail slot 1), lies adjacent the series of blocks or blanks and may be provided with a bolt g on which bolt is suspended a series of fingers g, which are adapted to fall into these notches of the rack or lie upon the tabletop. Each of these fingers is in width equal to one point, or one-twelfth of a pica, and there are twenty-four of them, so that their combined width is two pieas. They afford means for adjusting the alining-head G so that it measures distances not only in picas but in points, and the table 13 and the rack are so arranged that when the alining-head is operated it measures d istan ces from the face g to the cutting-tool T-that is, if the alining-head G were moved so that its inner face g were in alinement with the 0 pica it would also be in alinement with the inner face t of the cutting-tool, as will be readily understood. A dowel may maintain the shoe 9 and head G in rigid relation. The sec ond ary units Z) may be the small pieces known by printers as pica brasses, and the means of securing them admits of their being readily removed and replaced when worn. The material out of which the fingers g may be formed is also well known in the printers art, each being of a thickness equal to one-twelfth of a pica and generally called points or point-pieces. By using these pieces an accurate measuring apparatus may be made by simply assembling the parts in the relation shown. Evidently any twelve of the twentyfour fingers maybe dropped into a notch, and their number permits any amount to be measured in pieas and points whether the face 9 will he ever a notch or otherwise. Thus in Fig. 6 the head G is alined at a measurement of twenty-five picas and six points.

After I the printing-plate or work has been alined by means of the handle and the beveled margin f has been formed the plate is reversed upon the table, giving it the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The plate is now alined for cutting the second edge by means of the alining-head G. Thus if the width of the plate between the opposite'vertical faces f were thirty-four picas, a zero margin having been previously cut, the alining-head would be adjusted to measure thirtyfour pieas and six points, the alining-face g abutting the beveled edge, as shown in Fig. 1. The extra six points are to allow for the base width of six points of the beveled margin already cut. In Figs. 1 and 2 the head is shown with all the fingers glying idly on the tabletop preparatory to dropping the proper ones into a notch. When this has been done, the gage-plate 6 should just touch the vertical face f, with a reading of 0 at its own scale. This cooperation of the gage with the alining-head enables the accuracy of the measurements to be checked, so that it is hardly possible to cut a plate to a wrong width. If not thought necessary, however, the checking may be dispensed with and the plate applied directly to the tool after being clamped to the table in any manner, as before. It appears that the cooperation as set forth above also permits lines to'be marked or scribed upon the face of a printing-plate at measured distances apart, if desired.

What I claim is- 1. In a printing-plate-finishing machine, in combination, a pivoted bar, an eccentricsleeve slidably mounted thereon, a gage controlled by said eccentric-sleeve, and means for adjusting said bar into successive parallel positions, substantially as described.-

2. In a printing-plate-finishing machine, in combination, a pivoted bar, an eccentricsleeve slidably mounted thereon, a gage operated thereby, a scale carried by said gage and cooperating with said eccentric sleeve, means for adjusting said bar into positions parallel with itself, and independent means for adjusting said bar about its pivot, substantially as described.

3. In a printing-plate-finishing machine, in combination, a cutting-tool,-a pivoted bracket, an eccentric mounted therein, a second eccentric slidably mounted upon said bracket and a member cooperating with said second eccentric to constitute a gage, substantially as described.

4:. In a printing-plate-finishing machine, in combination, a cutting-tool, gages located on opposite sides of the cutting plane thereof, and means for adj usting said gages so that the distance between the alining edges thereof shall be a multiple of the unit of a typemeasuring system, substantially as described.

5. In a printing-plate-finishing machine, in combination, a cutting-tool, an alining-gage cooperating therewith, and means whereby said gage may measure only the unit or multiple of the unit of a type-measuring system, substantially as described.

6. In a printing-plate-finishin g machine, in combination, a gage having projections disposed laterally With respect tothe direction in which said gage measures, a movable alining-head, means carried thereby for engaging with said projections, said projections being at intervals which are equal to the unit or the multiple of the unit of a type-measuring system, substantially asdescribed.

7. In aprinting-plate-finishing machine, in combination, a gage having projections disposed laterally to the direction of measurement of said gage, said projections being separated by distances equal to an exact multiple of the unit of a type-measuring system,a movable member, and other members,carried by said movable member, and adapted to lie against said projections, each of said lastnamed members being of the width or a multiple of the width of the unit of the said typemeasuring system, substantially as described.

8. In a printing-plate-finishing machine, in combination, a cutting-tool, a table adapted to have the work secured thereupon, a gage carried by said table, and means whereby said gage may measure from said tool, only distancescommensurable in units and aliquot division of the units of a type-measuring system, substantially as described.

9. In a printing-plate-trimming machine,in combination, a cutting-tool, a table having unit measurements, each of said measurements being at a distance from the plane of said tool which is a multiple of a unit of a type-measuring system, a gage-plate cooper-- ating with said measurements, and means for moving said table andsaid tool relatively to each other, substantially as described.

10. In a printing-plate-trimming machine,

in combination, a cuttingtool, atable having projecting measuring units, disposed longitudinally thereof, a head guided longitudinally of said table,'said projecting units being removed from the plane of said tool distances which are multiples of a unit of a type-measuring system, and means for moving said tool and table relatively to each other, substantially as described.

11. In a printing plate-trimming machine,

in combination, a cutting-tool, a pivoted arm,

an eccentric pivoted therein, a gage-plateoperated by said eccentric, means for locking said arm, so that said gage-plate may maintain parallelism with the plane of said outting-tool, the successive positions of said eccentric being adapted to measure distances from the plane of said cutting-tool which are multiples of the unit of a type-measuring system, substantially as described.

12. In a printing-plate-trimming machine, in combination a primary alining edge, a secondary alining edge, a cutting-tool operating in a plane parallel with said alining edges,

means whereby said alining edges may measure distances from the plane of said tool,

which distances are multiples of a unit of a type-measuring system, substantially as described.

13. 111 a printing-plate-triniming machine,

in combination a double system of measuring units, means whereby one part of said system measures quantities equal to the margin 10 widths of printing-plates, means whereby a second part of said system measures the widths of said plates over the margins, and a beve1ing-tool cooperatingtherewith, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature I 5 in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK C. LEETIIEM.

Witnesses:

ELLA L. PARDEE, F. D. AMMEN. 

